How to Send A Custom Welcome Email to New Users in WordPress

Do you want to send a custom welcome email to new users in WordPress? If you allow user registration on your WordPress site, then each new user receives an email to set up their WordPress password.

However, they don’t receive a proper welcome email specific to your website. For instance, an email message that guides them about your community, links to the next steps, etc.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily send a custom welcome to your new WordPress users. We’ll share two methods, and you can choose one that best suits your needs (we like option #2 better since it’s more reliable).

Why Send a Custom Welcome Email to New Users in WordPress?

By default, WordPress sends an email to new users when they sign up. However, this email is not customized to fit each individual website or blog.

Here are some common scenarios when a welcome email can help you set up a proper onboarding process for your new users:

• If you run a WordPress membership website, then you may want to educate users about where they can find all the benefits that come with their membership plan.
• On an eCommerce website, you can direct users to products they would like, their account settings, or shopping cart page.
• On a multi-author website, you can point new authors to your style guide, ask them to fill in their bio and social links, or show them how to get started.

A custom welcome email can improve user experience and ensures that users don’t forget about your website after creating an account.

That being said, let’s take a look at different ways to easily set up a custom welcome email for new users in WordPress.

Method 1. Setting up a Custom Welcome Email using a Plugin

This method is easier but it is not the most flexible. You’ll be able to send just one welcome email to new users when they register on your website.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Better Notifications for WP plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Notifications » Add New page to create your custom welcome email.

First, you need to provide a title for this new notification that helps you easily identify it.

After that, select ‘New user – post registration email’ next to the ‘Notification for’ option. You can then start writing a custom welcome email by entering email subject and message.

Pro tip: Click on the find shortcodes button for a list of shortcodes that you can use inside your email message. For example, to display the user’s name, you can use the shortcode [email_user_display_name].

Once you are finished writing your custom welcome email, you can click on the save button to store your changes.

The plugin also allows you to send your self a test notification. Just click on the ‘Send me a test email’ button, and it will send you a test notification to the email address in your user profile.

You can also test the email by creating a new user account.

Ensure Email Deliverability in WordPress

By default, most WordPress hosting companies do not have the mail function configured properly. To prevent their servers from abuse, many hosting companies even turn it off completely.

This means that your WordPress emails will fail to reach users.

Don’t worry, there is an easy fix.

You’ll need to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. It allows you to use an SMTP server to send your WordPress emails.

For more details, see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

Method 2. Send Custom Welcome Email to New Users via Constant Contact

The first method only allows you to send emails when users perform an action on your website. This is somewhat limited and does not give you full control.

This second method will allow you to send a welcome email and even set up your own welcome funnel with multiple onboarding emails.

You will also be able to communicate with users regularly, which helps you bring them back to your website.

For this part, we’ll be using Constant Contact which is the best email marketing service for small businesses. The same thing can also be done with other email service providers like SendinBlue, ConvertKit, Drip, and more.

First, you need to sign up for a Constant Contact account. Once you have signed up, go to Contacts page and click on the create button next to email lists.

An email list is where you store all the email addresses of your contacts. Simply enter a name for your email list and click ‘Add List’ button.

Next, you need to install and activate the Constant Contact Forms plugin on your website. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

This plugin acts as a connector between your website and Constant Contact.

Upon activation, you need to visit Contact Form » Connect Now page and click on the ‘Connect Plugin’ button.

This will take you to Constant Contact website where you will log in with your account to connect your website.

Once you are connected, you need to visit Contact Form » Settings page to configure plugin settings.

Scroll down to Advanced Optin section and check the box next to ‘Add a checkbox to the WordPress user registration page’ option. After that, select the email list you created earlier from the dropdown next to ‘Add subscribers to’ option.

Below that you can add a message that users will see on screen.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save changes’ button to store your plugin settings.

You can now visit your WordPress website’s registration page to see it in action. You’ll see a checkbox for users to sign up for your email list when they register for an account on your website.

Pro tip: You can create a completely custom WordPress user registration form with our guide that also seamlessly integrates with Constant Contact.

Now, let’s create the welcome email that users will receive when they sign up.

Simply go to your Constant Contact dashboard and click on ‘Create’ button under the Campaigns tab.

We’ll be setting up an automated sequence of emails for new users. To do that, you need to select ‘Email Automation’ campaign.

On the next screen, click on the ‘Create Automated Series’ button to get started.

Next, you will be asked to provide a name for this automated series. Use a name that helps you easily identify this campaign later on.

After that, you need to select a trigger. Select ‘A contact joins a list’ from the dropdown menu and then check the box next to the email list you created earlier.

Click on the Save button to continue.

Constant Contact will now set up the automated series for you. Next, you need to select when you want to send your first email and then create your new custom welcome email.

Constant Contact comes with dozens of professionally designed email templates to choose from. You can start with one and then use a drag and drop builder to compose your email.

Once you are done writing your welcome email, click on the Continue button to save and exit the editor.

You can now simply click on the ‘Activate Button’ to make this funnel go live.

Set up Subsequent Emails in The Series

The best part about using Constant Contact and an automated welcome email funnel is that you can set multiple emails.

After your first email, you may want to check how the user is doing? Maybe they need a little help.

Let’s set up a second email in the series.

Simply click on the ‘Add to series’ button and then choose how long to wait before sending this email message. After that, click on ‘Create New Email’ button to compose your second email in the welcome series.

Once you are done creating your welcome email sequence, click on the activate button to apply these changes.

Constant Contact will now set up your welcome series and new WordPress users will get your custom welcome email messages.

We hope this guide helped you send a custom welcome to new users in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on the best WordPress plugins and the best business phone services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Send A Custom Welcome Email to New Users in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

January 21, 2020 at 06:00PM

How to Create a Coupon Popup in WordPress (Step by Step)

Do you want to create a coupon popup in WordPress? Coupon popups are a great way to convert your website visitors into paying customers.

There are several different ways to create and display coupon popups. However, showing the coupon at precise timing makes a huge difference in converting abandoning visitors into customers.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to add a coupon popup to your WordPress or WooCommerce site. We’ll also show you two ways to deliver your coupon to make them more effective and highly profitable.

Why Should You Offer Visitors a Coupon?

Often new business owners are concerned that coupons will eat into their profits. But established business owners know that offering a discount is a powerful way to get a visitor to make up their mind, instead of sitting on the fence. (And let’s face it, who doesn’t love a great deal?)

Offering coupon codes helps you recover abandoned cart sales, convert visitors into customers, and make more sales.

Most eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce allow you to easily create coupon codes. However, sharing these coupon codes with your customers makes all the difference.

That’s why in this article we will share two different ways to share coupons with your visitors: a coupon exit popup and a coupon spin a wheel optin.

Let’s take a look at how to create a coupon popup in WordPress or WooCommerce.

How to Create Your Coupon Popup in WordPress

For the sake of this tutorial, we will be using OptinMonster to create both the coupon popup and a coupon spin a wheel.

We use OptinMonster on our own websites, and it was created by WPBeginner’s founder Syed Balkhi. Since the launch in 2013, it’s now being used on over 1 million websites.

First, you need to visit the OptinMonster website to create an account.

After that, you need to install and activate the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin acts as a connector between your OptinMonster account and your WordPress website.

Upon activating the plugin, you need to click on the OptinMonster menu in your WordPress admin sidebar to connect with OptinMonster website.

Now you are all set to create your first coupon popup campaign.

Creating Your Coupon Popup Campaign

Simply login to your OptinMonster dashboard and click the Create New Campaign button.

Next, you’ll need to choose a campaign type. We’re going to use Popup, which should be the default selection.

On the next screen, you will be asked to select a template.

OptinMonster has a huge range of templates you can choose from (all professionally designed), with lots of different layouts and color schemes. The Coupon template is perfect for creating a coupon popup, though you can choose a different template if you prefer.

You can use the search box to find the Coupon template, or you can scroll down the page.

Next, click on the template and select Use Template.

The final step before you start building your coupon popup is to name the campaign and select the website you want to use it on.

If you’ve already connected OptinMonster to your WordPress site, then that site’s name and URL will show up under Which website(s) do you want to load this campaign on?

Designing your Coupon Popup

Once you’ve clicked Start Building, you’ll see the drag and drop campaign builder. You can use it to change the text, colors, and design of the coupon in whatever way you like.

Simply click on any element of the design to change it. Here, we’ve edited the text and made it a different color. As soon as you make your changes on the left-hand side, you’ll see those changes on your coupon popup on the right.

You can change any of the text in the same way. You might want to experiment with different fonts and colors.

Outside of the text and elements within the popup, you can also change the background color and other settings.

First, close the element you’re on by clicking the X or the Home button.

After that, go to Optin Settings » Optin View Styles.

Here, you can change the Background Overlay which is the color around your popup that covers your content when the popup appears on a visitor’s screen. On this settings tab, you can also change the Background Style (solid or gradient) and the Background Color.

We’ve used the color picker to change the background to a bright yellow.

This is also where you can add an image to your coupon if you want to use one.

Finally, you may want to change the dashed border that appears near the edge of your coupon. To edit this, click on it, then click the Settings cog that appears on the left-hand side to edit the Column.

You can scroll down on the left to set the Border Color, Border Width or even the Border Style, though we think dashed looks good for a coupon!

Here’s our new version, with a narrower border.

Once you’re done with the changes, please make sure you save your campaign by clicking the green Save button at the top of the screen.

Decide How to Deliver Your Coupon Code

Now that you’ve set up your coupon popup, you need to decide how you’ll actually deliver the coupon code to your visitor.

There are several ways to do this in OptinMonster, but the best way is to deliver the coupon code straight away through OptinMonster’s Success view and to send it by an email newsletter too.

That way, if the visitor isn’t ready to buy straight away, they’ve got the coupon code for easy reference later.

By default, your coupon popup is already designed to use the Success view as soon as the button is clicked. You can check this by clicking on the button and then clicking Button and Action on the right-hand side of your screen.

If you want a different button action, you can change that here. For your first coupon, though, we recommend sticking with the default.

Integrating OptinMonster With Your Email List

To send your coupon code out by email automatically and for the visitor to be added to your email list, you’ll need to integrate OptinMonster with your email marketing service.

OptinMonster integrates with pretty much every major email marketing service provider.

Once you’ve done that, you can set up an automated email to go out whenever someone signs up for the list through your coupon popup.

Simply use the Integrations tab of your campaign to connect OptinMonster to your email marketing service. Depending on which service you use, you’ll likely have the option to add a tag or other identifier so that visitors signing up through your popup can be identified.

If you get stuck, take a look at the full instructions from OptinMonster.

Bonus Tip: Edit the Success View Template

You can view and change the Success View template by going back to the Design tab of your campaign and clicking the Sucess option.

The default looks like this, but you can edit it in any way you want, just like you edited your coupon popup.

Check or Change Your Coupon Popup’s Display Rules

By default, your coupon popup will appear to visitors after they’ve been on any page of your site for 5 seconds. If you want to change this, go to Display Rules.

You can set whatever display rules you like, but a great one to try out is Exit-Intent®. This special OptinMonster technology can tell when a visitor is about to leave your site and show them your coupon popup at just the right moment.

Publish Your Coupon Popup

Once you’re happy with your coupon popup, save it and click Publish in the menu at the top of the screen. You’ll need to make your campaign Live using the toggle at the top of the page in order to run it. You can come back and pause it at any time.

Scroll down to Platform and select WordPress. You’ll then see instructions on how to put your campaign live on your site.

Creating a Spin-to-Win Coupon Wheel

A spin to win coupon wheel is a great way to make your coupons more interesting and fun to your site’s visitors. It’s like a mini game that visitors can play to win a discount or another bonus.

OptinMonster has three different spin to win templates built in, making it a convenient option, especially if you already have an account.

Your spin to win options could include things like 10% off, 20% off, free shipping, a free trial, or whatever you want to offer.

To create a spin-to-win coupon wheel, you’ll need to go back to your Campaign Dashboard in OptinMonster if you’re not already there.

Next, click to Create a New Campaign.

On the next step, you need to select Fullscreen for your Campaign Type.

After that scroll down and select one of the Wheel templates. You can change the colors later, so don’t worry if none of them are quite right for you: just pick one to start off with.

You’ll then need to give your campaign a name and choose which website to use it on.

Next, go ahead and edit any aspect of your coupon wheel. To edit the options on the coupon wheel itself, you’ll need to click on it then click Edit Wheel Sections button on the left hand side

You can then type in any text as the Label for each option, and you can add in the Coupon Code for each winning option.

Note that the Win Chance is automatically determined. If you change the toggle on one or more of the Can win? options, you’ll see the percentage chance of winning change.

By default, all the options that don’t offer a prize are switched off so the user will always land on a prize. You can change this if you want to.

Once you’re happy with your coupon wheel, you can set the Display Rules and Publish it. If you’re not sure what to do here, then take a look at the steps earlier in this post for coupon popups.

If you need more help creating your coupon wheel and adding it to your site, check out our post How to add spin to win optins in WordPress and WooCommerce, which goes through the process in more detail.

That’s all. We hope this article helped you learn how to create a coupon popup in WordPress. You might also want to take a look at our guide on the best WooCommerce plugins to grow your online store sales.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create a Coupon Popup in WordPress (Step by Step) appeared first on WPBeginner.

January 20, 2020 at 08:58PM

25 Best WordPress Themes for Photographers (2020)

Are you looking for WordPress themes for photographers?

A WordPress theme designed specifically for photographers can help showcase your work, find more clients, and connect with other like-minded photographers.

In this article, we have handpicked some of the best WordPress themes for photographers that you can use on your photography website.

Building a WordPress Site for Photographers

First you need to make sure that you are choosing the right platform to build your website. Self hosted WordPress.org is the best website builder for photographers.

WordPress offers creative freedom with unlimited designs, thousands of apps, extensions, and integrations available to site owners.

To get started, you will need to sign up for a WordPress hosting account. It will be your website’s home on the internet.

You will also need a domain name that your users will put in their browsers to open your website (for example, wpbeginner.com or google.com).

We recommend using Bluehost. They are one of the most popular web hosting companies in the world and an official WordPress hosting partner.

After signing up for a hosting account, you will need to install WordPress. Follow the instructions in our guide on how to start a WordPress blog and you will be up and running in no time.

Next, you need to choose a theme from our expert picks below. If you need help installing the theme on your site, then check out our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress photography themes.

1. Divi

Divi is a popular WordPress theme and an ultimate page builder. It comes with 100s of layout packs and a 1-click demo content importer making it easier to launch your photography website.

It has a visual customizer, inline text editor, tons of design options, and more. With global elements and styles, you can manage site-wide settings easily. Divi is beginner-friendly and easy to set up.

Get the Divi theme today!

2. Astra Theme

Astra Theme is a lightweight WordPress multi-purpose theme. It ships with dozens of starter sites, including built-in demo layouts with content for photographers.

The theme works great with drag and drop page builders to create custom landing pages. It gives you complete control of colors, font, and background.

Get the Astra Theme today!

3. Elegance Pro

Elegance Pro is a graceful WordPress theme for photographers, designers, and artists. It is built on top of the StudioPress Genesis Framework.

The theme has a minimalist layout design with a gorgeous display of photos. It comes with custom page templates for blog, homepage, and landing pages. Elegance Pro is easy to set up using the WordPress theme customizer with a live preview.

StudioPress is now part of WP Engine, the most popular managed WordPress hosting company. You can get this theme and all 35+ other StudioPress themes if you sign up for WP Engine hosting to build your website.

Bonus: WPBeginner users also get an additional 20% OFF. Get started with WP Engine today!

Get the Elegance Pro theme today!

4. Ultra

Ultra is a powerful WordPress multi-purpose theme. It comes with several pre-made websites, including a demo site for photographers.

It allows you to showcase your featured photos in a custom homepage slider. The Ultra theme has unlimited color choices, custom widgets, and beautiful typography options.

Get the Ultra theme today!

5. OceanWP

OceanWP is a free WordPress theme built to create any website. With the 1-click Ocean Demo Import feature, you can import the free and premium demo sites to start your photography website instantly.

The theme comes with color schemes, fonts, custom backgrounds, and page templates. It has a fast page load time and built-in SEO that helps grow your website traffic.

Get the OceanWP theme today!

6. Neve

Neve is a modern WordPress theme for photographers, creative bloggers, artists, and fashion designers. It comes with one-page and multi-page layouts.

It offers seamless integration with drag and drop page builders like Beaver Builder, Elementor, Visual Composer, etc. The theme is also compatible with the Gutenberg block editor to create beautiful posts with images.

Get the Neve theme today!

7. Coastline

Coastline is a uniquely designed WordPress theme for photographers. It comes with a portfolio section to display your photos beautifully.

Other notable features include custom widgets and multiple layout choices. It uses a grid layout on the homepage with a fixed sidebar on the left. The theme is easy to customize and looks great on all devices and screens.

Get the Coastline theme today!

8. Relive

Relive is a stunning WordPress theme for photographers and storytellers. It makes an immersive experience for users with the help of audio, videos, images, and typography.

It offers parallax scrolling effects to make your photos stand out through the homepage and landing pages. The theme has social integrations to share your photos on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Get the Relive theme today!

9. Shutter Up

Shutter Up is a free WordPress theme for photographers and photoblogs. It comes with a featured content slider to showcase your best photo stylishly.

The homepage has beautiful sections to add users’ testimonials, services, photo albums, and more. It is easy to set up using the WordPress customizer with live preview.

Get the Shutter Up theme today!

10. Ambiance Pro

Ambiance Pro is a minimalist WordPress theme for photographers to create a beautiful portfolio and photography website. It has a white-colored background that pops up your photos and content.

It features a widgetized homepage layout and multiple page templates for your blog, archives, and landing pages. Ambiance Pro is SEO-friendly and supports WooCommerce to sell photos online.

Get the Ambiance Pro theme today!

11. Shape

Shape is a WordPress theme designed specifically for photographers. It comes with built-in filterable galleries and beautiful transition effects.

It ships with a custom widget to add a newsletter subscription box in the footer and build your email list. The theme has a grid layout to prominently displays your photos.

Get the Shape theme today!

12. Hestia Pro

Hestia Pro is an elegant WordPress multi-purpose theme. It is packed with a few ready-made starter sites that you can import and replace the content to get started quickly.

The theme supports image and video slider to make an impression on your users. It has a fully customizable homepage and translation-ready to create a multilingual website.

Get the Hestia Pro theme today!

13. True North

True North is a beautiful WordPress theme suitable for photographers to build portfolio websites. It comes with a built-in portfolio section on the homepage where you can upload your photos easily.

Other notable features include a grid layout, custom backgrounds, and large headers. It ships with custom widgets for social media profiles and content discovery features.

Get the True North theme today!

14. Inspiro

Inspiro is an excellent photography WordPress theme. It comes with a visual background allowing you to add a professional photo or video to impress your users.

It supports page builders and a gallery module to build your photography website quickly. The theme is fully compatible with WooCommerce.

Get the Inspiro theme today!

15. Suarez

Suarez is a WordPress photo blogging theme. It comes with a ton of customization options and a drag and drop page builder to design your landing pages.

The theme also includes CSS animations, Google Fonts, and a beautiful image slider. It is easy to set up with a live customizer panel.

Get the Suarez theme today!

16. Lense

Lense is a stylish WordPress theme for photographers and video makers. It has a 2-column layout with a navigation menu and a custom logo on the left side, and a beautiful large horizontal slider on the right side of the screen.

It comes with gorgeous gallery layouts to display your photographs and videos. It has flexible customization options with multiple color choices, fullscreen display, and custom widgets.

Get the Lense theme today!

17. Expose Pro

Expose Pro is a beautifully designed WordPress theme for photographers. It comes with a widgetized homepage with 4 widget areas and offers multiple templates for your blog, homepage, archive, and landing pages.

It has a custom gallery post format with lightbox popup. Expose Pro uses large featured images to showcase the best of your work.

Get the Expose Pro theme today!

18. Bold Photography

Bold Photography is a free WordPress theme for photographers. It comes with a beautiful fullscreen slider on the homepage allowing you to display your photographs in their full glory.

It also includes large featured images and a portfolio style image gallery. The theme is easy to customize using WordPress live customizer.

Get the Bold Photography theme today!

19. Benson

Benson is a modern WordPress photography theme. It comes with a video and image slideshow support to create the best first impression on your users.

Other notable features include multiple layouts, color schemes, and support for custom backgrounds. It also includes headers, widgets, social integration, etc.

Get the Benson theme today!

20. Gusto

Gusto is a free WordPress theme for bloggers and photographers. It displays large featured images and beautiful typography.

It comes with a 2-column layout, background colors, custom logo, and more. The theme follows the latest SEO practices to help rank your website quickly.

Get the Gusto theme today!

21. Eclipse

Eclipse is an elegant WordPress theme for photographers, bloggers, and artists. The homepage features a beautiful slider to showcase your latest work professionally.

It comes with a custom widget for Instagram photos and videos. It also includes gallery templates, a portfolio section, and support for WooCommerce.

Get the Eclipse theme today!

22. PhotoBlogster

PhotoBlogster is a free WordPress theme well-suited for bloggers, photographers, and writers. The homepage has a beautiful grid layout to display your featured content.

It is fully compatible with Google AdSense and affiliate marketing plugins making it easier to display ads on your site.

Get the PhotoBlogster theme today!

23. Parallax

Parallax is a WordPress portfolio theme for photographers and artists. It comes with tons of customization options and 60+ predesigned layouts.

It also includes an easy to use drag and drop page builder. With graceful parallax effects and fullscreen slider, the theme is ideal for a photography website.

Get the Parallax theme today!

24. Tempo

Tempo is uniquely designed WordPress theme built specifically for photographers and bloggers. It comes with a masonry layout on the homepage to showcase your photos stylishly.

The theme has 3 header layouts, social profiles menu, and fullscreen images. It is WooCommerce ready and supports Jetpack features out of the box.

Get the Tempo theme today!

25. Photograph

Photograph is a free WordPress theme built specifically for photographers, digital marketers, bloggers, and creative agencies. It offers a 1-click demo content import to get started quickly.

The exciting theme features include a full-width custom header image, custom widgets, image gallery template, and a sidebar.

Get the Photograph theme today!

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress themes for photographers. You may also want to see our guide on the best WordPress plugins and best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 25 Best WordPress Themes for Photographers (2020) appeared first on WPBeginner.

January 17, 2020 at 06:48PM